Spring has sprung. My allergies swing has swung. Summer is just around the corner-I can almost taste the BBQ chicken, beer brats, and beef kebabs-and that can mean only one thing: “Schools out for summer! School’s out FOREVER!” Of course, ‘forever’ only applies to those students lucky enough to be graduating and smart enough to NOT be considering graduate school. Everyone has advice for the recently graduated and so without further to do, here is mine.
Let me be the tenth person to congratulate you on your graduation. If you are a high school graduate my advice is simple and straight forward: get a summer job, get laid, and in the fall, matriculate your arse to a University-and get laid for the next 4-7 years before you take a degree.
Now then, for the newly indoctrinated collegiate graduate my advice is more, evolved. The world is a many splendid thing. Now that you have spent thousands of dollars to be educated do not succumb to the pressure to find a job. Trust me, your student loans are not going anywhere, as a matter of fact, they will always be there, or, at least it will seem that way. Besides, you are not as qualified as you think you are. Instead, get out there and experience the world’s brilliance organically. You have earned a break. Start off easy, especially if you have limited or no travel experience. You can not go from ‘never been 50 miles from home’ to vagabond over night. Take a short vacation (3 months or less) not to discover yourself but to discover what kind of world appeals to you. Travel does not have to be exotic or even international but it should take you out of your comfort zone and expose you to unfamiliar cultures. If the East coast has been your stomping grounds, head West and vice-versa. If you spent a summer studying in Italy and/or tramping across Europe, maybe you are ready for Central or South America, Africa or SEAsia. Wherever you go, plan to be back within 3 months. After this quick jaunt the travel bug (and hopefully only the travel bug) will have bitten and soon you will know if you caught travel fever. If nothing else you will probably have a new found appreciation for running water, or cleanliness and sanitation, or high speed internet, or air conditioning.
At this point you will be in debt but do not despair and DO NOT let your credit be ruined. Find a job, keeping in mind the sentiment that you are not as qualified as you think you are. Pay your bills and your loans, build up your experience and your credit and savings. Once you are qualified to do something, quit everything and do nothing but travel and that is my advice. Considering my history this advice is probably not all that surprising but then again, nothing’s shocking. Of course you could always go to graduate school (and become even less qualified to work) or you could find an underpaid overworked job like the rest of your friends. The choice is yours, you have earned it.
Do not forget to check out our updated photo gallery with pictures from our recent trip to Boonville for the 11th annual beer festival and my parents 40th anniversary bash. It’s all there and MORE!